Type-writing machine.



PATENTED MAY 1; 3.967.

L. R. ROBERTS.

TYPE WRITIN1 MACHINE;

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.29.1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1v /NVE/VTOR WITNESSES I a BY H/S ATTORN v W' I PATENTEDMAY 14, 1907 L. B. ROBERTS. E WRITING MACHINE. APPLIGATION FILEDSEPT.29,1905.

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2 SHEETB-$HBET 2.

. WWW; M MM BY ms ATTORNEY I without lateral bending, from its pivot tousual where alternate short and long bars are same place.

UNITED sTArns PATENT OFFICE.

LYMAN R. ROBERTS, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO UNDERVVOODTYPEWRITER COMPANY, OF YORK, N. Y., A C PORATIOI\ OF NEW JERSEY.

TYPE-WRITING MACHINE.

Spec fication of Letters Yatent.

rammed May 14,1907.

Application filed September 29, 1905. Sei-ial No- 280.667-

To 11/] u-lm/it it may concern: Be it known that I, LYMAN R. ROBERTS, a

citizen of the United States, residing in Detroit, in the county ofWayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Type-\Vriting Machines, of which the following is aspeciiica-' on. a

This invention relates to the type-actions writing machines, andparticularly those the visible writing class, in which the type LI'S areassembled compactly on one side of the printing point.

One object of the invention is to provide long pivot bearings for thetype bars, and to this end I use short and long type bars; the shortones pivoted in an are which is immediately within thearc in which thelong bars are pivoted: and instead of having the type ends of" the barsin staggering arrangement as employed, I contrive to have the types liein an even row, as usual in front strike writing machines in which thebars are of uniform length, and thereby the types are brought within thesmallest possible compass. I provide individual hangers for the typebars, with improved means i or adjusting the hangers and type bars. Thehangers are in the form of strips folded to receive the type bar hubs,and provision is made for taking up the play of the pivots, and also forstrengthening the hanger at the pivot end.

A further object is to avoid olisetting the types laterally from themain arms of thetype bars to such an extent asis customaryin frontstrike writing machines. To this end, in place of the customary doubletype made in one piece, I employ individual shank types, one for eachcharacter, and in each types bar I provide two or more sockets toreceive these types. The bar extends directly, or

the socket of the first type, and is bent laterally between the types soas to enable the types on all the bars (which are grouped ra- I diallyto the printing point) to print in the A further object of the inventionis to im- I prove the touchupon the keys, and to this end I employsub-levers between the key levers j and type bars, and give the keylevers bearings directly upon the sub-levers at points remote from thefulcrums of the latter so as to give an easy start to the keys; and Ialso extend links from the key levers to the sublevers which ares-dieduring the first parts of the type strokes, but at the latter parts ofsaid strokes engage the sub-levers at points near the fulcrums of thelatter, thereby speeding the type bars to make the impressions andtending to relieve the shock upon the fingers of the operator as thekeys are a'rrested. Further obj ect-.. and advantages will hereinafterappear,

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation takenfrom front to rear of the type action of a front strike Writing machinemade in accordance withmy improvements. F 1g. 2 1s a front view oi an1mare mounted. Fig. 3 is a plan of the type bars detached from theirhangers, only the type bars of the left hand half of the system beingshown. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the type bar and hanger, thelatter broken away to illustrate the pivotal adjustment.

Upon the front side of a platen 1 strike lower case and upper case ty es2 and 3, having shanks inserted in soc ets 4 and 5 of short and longtype-bars 6 and 7, which are radially disposed to the printing Joint.The pivots 8 of the short type bars lie in an arc elow the. platen andimmediately within or above the arc in which lie the pivots 9 of thelong .type bars. As illustrated, the type bars swing through about 90degrees from normal position to the printing point. An imaginary line 10drawn through the pivot-s 8 and 9 at Fig. 1 would form an. angle ofabout 45 degrees to a vertical plane parallel with the front of theplaten where the types strike. The ty es 2 on both the long and shorttype bars, a though moving in different arcs, still lie evenly side byside in the type basket, the same as if the type bars were all of onelength, since the pivots 9 are in such relation to the pivots 8 that thearcs 11. and 12 coincide where they touch. the types in normal position.will be understood that if the types move through either more or lessthan 90 degrees, the line 10 may be shifted accordingly, so that itshall form an angle with said vertical ilane (designated as 13) equal toabout hall the angle through whichthe type bar swings. Said plane 13 mayform the base oi a right cone having its axis lhcoincidcnt with theprinting point, and its sides proved segment upon which the type bars.

IOC

forming an angle of 45 degrees more or less with the base; and it willbe seen that the pivots 9 lie at the junction of the base and sides ofsaid cone, While the pivots 8 11s 5 in the sides of the cone. At Fig. 3,which shows the type bars as they would appear it developed from theiractual circular arrangement to a position in which their pivots would beall horizontal, it will be seen that [c the types form a substantiallyeven row, as

distinguished from the staggering arrangement of types usual wherealternatinglon'g and short bars are employed; the pivots of the lowerare being sulliciently far in rear of I s the pivots in the upper arc toeffect this result. I

' The type bars are mounted in individual hangers 15 and 16, the formeradjustable/foe wardly andbackwardly upon the inner or up er cylindricalface, 17 of a segment 18,

ant ,held whore adjusted by: screws 19, and the latter-adjustablysecured by screws 20 upon a conical outer or lower face 21 of saidsegment; the face 21 being parallel with 10,

25 so that'the hanger 16 may be adjusted obliqucly thereon in adirection to carry the pivot 9 along the line 10 directly to or fromthepivot 8, whereby the types on the long bar 7 may be adjusted tostrike accurately at the printing point without throwing themalppreciably out of line with the ty es of the s iort type bars.Moreover, it wi be seen that the hangers 16 may be adjusted forwardlyand backwardly so as to brine, their t pes when in normal position inaline with t e types on the long type bars, without appreciably varying;the printing positions of the types on the short type bars. Hence allthe types may be properly alined both in printing and normal positions,notwithstanding'the use oi alternately long and short type bars. An'yhanger may be removed by simply unscrewing its screw 19 or 20, andanother hanger and type-bar sub stitutcd, as will be understood,

it will be soon that the hangers 15 and '16 are formed of strips ofsheet metal folded to form loops to receive the screws '19 and 20, saidloops rigidly secured near their free ends by rivets 22, which clamp thesides of the loops against interposed blocks .23. The tips of thehangers are thusenabled to support rigidly the typo bars, so that thelatter are carried true to th printing point. The

pivots H and 9 oi the type bars are in the iorm oi' concd gudpgeons,which have hearings in screws 24, threaded into holes 25; in

the hangers the screws being, axially perl'orated and coned toreccivesaid gudgeons. The hangers 16 are entirely clear of thc hangers15 the bars 7 vibrating up between the adjoining hangers lfi. Alloithchangcrs may be sulliciently wide to enable-the cmployiiicnt of such.long pivots'upon the (5 type bars that accuracy of printing 'is'insured;[the hangers in one are or tier overlapping those in the other, as willbe understoo'd"*o1n Fig. 3.

At '5. 3 it will be seen that the pairs of types .2 and 3 lie at variousangles to the type bars and that the latter are bent at about the point.26 between the types or type sockets, 27 and 28. The type bars extenddirectly or straight at Fig. 3 between their pivots and the nearesttypes 2, these being the lower case types and lnost'fre'quently used, sothat when types 2 are printed there is no lateral or torsional strainupon-the type bars and hence good impressions are secured without havingthe type bars unduly heavy. The 53 necessary lateral bends or crooks inthe type bars are very short, as seen at Fig. 3, so-that the upper casetypes 3 are not undulv offset from the type bars. .By having individualtypes instead oi the usual double types, the g bend .Or crook can bemade at the point 26 (at the junction of the crook with the body of thebar), or between the types, which is iinpracticable where double typesare employed."

The type bars are operated by'keys 29. mounted upon the front endsollevers 30 of the "second order extending rearwardly beneath the typebars andhaving between their ends upwardly extending arms 31 provided attheir tips-with lateral pins or projections 32 which bear directly uponsuitably curved edges 33 oi bell-cranks 34 having fulcrun'i's" at 35.Upwardly extend ng arms 36 of said bell cranks are connected byadjustable mo links 237 with short arms 38 formed upon the under sideoithe type bars and suitablvf hooked to clear the hanger blocks 23. rItwill be seen at Fig. 1 that the bearing pins 32 are quite remote fromthe bell-crank iulcrurns 35, m whereby the type bars are easily startedin motion. Just inrear of said upwardly e x-' tending arms 31, I connectto the key levers adjustable links 39, which extend up to thebell-cranks I54 and are loosely connected to no the latter between thepins 32 and the fuldrums '35. The-up er end 01 eachlink-is hooked at 40to catc within a slot 41 formed in the bell-crank, whereby during theinitial I orti on of the movement of the latterysaid ink is-idle.

During the last art of the type strokehowever, the link ei 'ecti've andacts upon the bell-crank at a relatively small leverage in comparisonwith the pin 32; as will be. understood lrom the parts seen i-printing12o bars pivoted in the upper arc.

platen,a system of type bars pivote to the pivotal axes of the uppertype bars; and

the tension of said springs has to be over- 1. In a typewriting machinehaving a axis substantially coincides with the printing ms for saidlypebars, and a segment having a type bars so as to be effective to returnthe same to normal position. i

In the form of my invention shown at Fig. 1, if the springs 42 are castoh, the type bars immediately rise to the printing point, thus showingthat very little resistance beyond come by the operator in manipulatingthe keys, so'that fatigue is avoided and speed of operation is assured.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

platen, asystem of type bars pivoted to swing against the front side ofthe platen and each carrying a pair of types; the type bars pivoted intwo arcs one immediately above the other, the type bars pivoted in thelower are being longer than the type bars pivoted in the upper are, andthe u per type-bar pivots lying in the sides and t e lower typear pivotsat the junction of" the sides and base of a cone whose axissubstantially c0in cides with the printing point on the platen; the typebars pivoted in the lower are being mounted upon individual hangerswhich are mounted upon a conical segment of such form that the hangersmay be adjusted thereon so as to carry their typebar pivots directlytoward the pivotal axes of the type 2. In. a typewriting machine havin aswing against the front side of the platen and each carrying a pair oftypes, the-type bars pivoted in two arcs oneimmediately above the other,the type bars in the lower are being longer than the type bars in theupper arc, the up or type-bar pivots lying in the sides and t elower tye-bar pivots at the junction of the sides an base of a cone whose pointon the platen; the type bars pivoted m the lower arc'being mounted uponindividual hangers which are mounted upon a conical segment of form topermit the adjustment thereon of the lower hangers directly toward thehangers of the upper'arc being adjustable forwardly and backwardly uponsaid segment.

3. In a typewriting machine, a system of alternating long and shortpivoted type bars, the type ends of the long bars lying in substantialalinement with the type ends of the short type bars when in normalpositions, and each type-bar carrying a plurality of. types, the typeslying at various angles to type bars, individual overlapping hangconicalsurface where-on the hangers for the long type bars are mounted foradjustment toward and from the apex of the cone,

4. In a front strike 'writing machine havrearwardly striking alternatingshort and long pivoted type bars, the long type bars pivoted below and alittle in rear of the short type bars, the type ends of the long'barssubstantially alining with'the type ends of the short type bars when innormal positions, each type bar carrying a plurality of types, all ofsaid type bars provided with hangers, and a segment Whereon said hangersare individually' adjustable, the hangers for the short type barsmounted upon the upper side of said segment, and the lower side of saidsegment having a,conical form and bearing the hangers for said long typebars; the lastnientioned hangers lying below and in overlapping relationto the hangers for the short type bars.

5. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a system of pivotedtype-bars, those in the middle of the system being substan tiallystraight from end to end, and the remaining bars having crooks at theirfree ends, the crooks lying at progressively increasing angles to thebodies of the bars from the middle to the sides of the system, and aplurality 'of types mounted independently of one another upon each bar,one type mounted: I

creasing angles to the bodies of the bars from the middle to the sidesof the system, and a plurality of types adjustable and detachableindependently of one another upo'n eaclrbar, one type mounted upon thetip of the crook, and the other at the junction of the crook with thebody of the bar.

7. In a typewriting machine, a system of pivoted type-bars, those in themiddle of the to end, and the remaining bars having crooks at their freeends, the crooks lying at progressively increasing angles to the bodiesof. the bars from the middle to the sides oi the system, each of saidbars formed with a type socket at the tip of the crock, and a separatetype'socket at the junction of the crock with t 1e body of the bar.

8. In a typewriting machine,the combination with a system of type barsand a system of keys, of intervening bell cranks and keybearing levers,the latter directly engaging said bell cranks at a relatively greatleverage, and links extending from said key levers to said bell cranksand attached to the latter at such points as to transmit motion from thekey levers to the bell cranks at a relatively small leverage; said linkshaving losting a platen, the combination of a system of motionconnections to the type-bars so as to system beingsubstantially straightfrom end &

be ineffective (luring thefinitialatgortions of the type-bar strokes. Ii 9. In a typewriting machine, the-combination with a system of typebars and a system of keys, or leversoporated by the keys, si-1b leversbetweelrsard levers and the type bars, each lever directly engaging itssub-lever at a i relatively great leverage, and links extending fromthekey-levers to the sub-levers to act on the latter at a relativelysmall leverage, said links having lost-motion connections so as to beineffective during the initial portions of the type-bar strokes.

10. In a typewritingmachine, the combination with a system of typebarsand a system of keys, ol levers operated by the keys,

tending from the bell cranks to the type bars, and springs alsoextending from the bellcranks and connectedto the type bars nearer the,pivots ol' the latter than said 1 and having hearings on the latterforwardly sub-levers between said levers and the type bars, each leverdirectly engaging its sub- 1 lever, and links extending from thekey-levers to the sub-levers: saidlinks engaging said subrlevers atpoints between the fulcrunis of the latter and said bearings, and havinglost-motion connections such that they are inelli'ective at the initialportions of the type bar strokes.

11. In a front strike writing machine, the

eornbinatimi with a system of rearwardly striking type bars, of leversextending rearn'ardly bei'leath the type bars and bearing keys at theirforward ends, bellcranks mounted above the key levers, arms rigid withand extending up from said key levers and directly engaging saidbell-cranks, links ex- 1 nected to said l1nks,and key-bearing leverstending up from said keys levers and having lostmotion connections tosaid bell-cranks between the fulcrun'is of the latter and saidbearings,-and means connecting said bellwith type bars of key le'versbell,

of their fulcrums, links extending up from said key-levers in rear ofsaid arms and having lost-motion connections to said cranks between saidbearings and fulcrums. and links extendingrearwardly from ,saidbell-cranks to the type bars.

14. In a typewriting machine, the combination with rearwardly strikingtypo bars, of key-bearing levers of the second order beneath said typebars, and bell-cranks having upstanding arms connected to said typebars'said kc -levers having arns ri id there- 7 .J h

with and extending upwardly and engaging said forwardly projectingarn'is of said bell cranks 15. 111 a typewriting machine, thecombination with rearwardly striking type bars having pendent shortarms, of links extending forwardly from said short arms, bellcrankshaving upwardly extending arms conol' the second order having upwardlyextcnding rigid 1 IRS which engage forwardly. extending arms of saidbell-cranks.

' LYMAX R. ROBERTS.

Witnesses:

B. C. S'rIonNEY, C. 1-1. ANDREWS.

